1980s Baby Names

17,980 names were given to children in the United States between 1980 and 1989, ranked below by how many.

A name's place is its total across those ten years. Names that appear in only some of the decade say so, because a name recorded once is a different fact from one recorded every year.

All Girls Boys Unisex

Rankings for

#308
Carolyn Carolyn is a girl's name, an English elaboration of Caroline meaning free man through Charles.
18,729 in the 1980s
#312
Ebony Ebony reached English from ancient Egyptian, which makes it one of the oldest borrowings in the language — hbny passed into Greek and Latin with the timber itself, and English kept both the wood and the word.
18,464 in the 1980s
#313
Rebekah Rebekah is the spelling the King James Bible uses for the Old Testament, while the New Testament in the same book uses Rebecca — one translation, two spellings, and English inherited both.
18,402 in the 1980s
#314
Deanna Deanna was popularized by a stage name — the actress born Edna Mae Durbin was renamed Deanna Durbin in 1936, and American births rose from almost nothing to a peak of 4,331 in 1970.
18,209 in the 1980s
#316
Tonya Tonya is a short form of Antonia, and its meaning is unknown — the Roman family name Antonius has no established derivation, and the flower reading widely given for it is a Renaissance invention.
18,044 in the 1980s
#318
Caroline Caroline is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "free man," the French feminine of Charles by way of the Latin Carolus.
18,033 in the 1980s
#322
Kristi Kristi is the fifth spelling of this name to appear in this group — after Kristin, Kristen, Kristina and Kristine, all of them American-led despite the form being Scandinavian.
17,749 in the 1980s
#329
Brianna Brianna is a girl's name, the feminine of Brian, whose Irish meaning has never been securely established.
17,172 in the 1980s
#330
Bridget Bridget means exalted one, and it belonged to a goddess before a saint — Brigid was the Irish deity of poetry, smithcraft and healing, and the saint absorbed her feast, her fire and her attributes.
17,160 in the 1980s
#334
Sharon Sharon is a girl's name taken from a place rather than a person — the fertile coastal plain of Sharon in Israel, known from the rose of Sharon in the Song of Songs.
16,780 in the 1980s
#335
Marie Marie is a girl's name of Hebrew origin, the French form of Mary, and the largest name in the birth records with more than 2.8 million births on record.
16,737 in the 1980s
#337
Sheena
16,470 in the 1980s
#338
Tasha
16,311 in the 1980s
#339
Meagan Meagan means pearl at four removes — Welsh Megan shortens Marged, which is Margaret, which is the Greek margarites, which is probably a loan from further east than Greece.
16,303 in the 1980s
#341
Cindy Cindy is a girl's name, a pet form of Cynthia, which was a title of the moon goddess Artemis.
16,192 in the 1980s
#342
Priscilla Priscilla means ancient or venerable, and it is a diminutive — so the name literally reads as little old one, which was a mark of respect rather than an insult.
16,083 in the 1980s
#345
Ann Ann is a girl's name from the Hebrew Hannah, meaning grace or favor, and the spelling without the final e.
15,995 in the 1980s
#346
Ashlee Ashlee is the third spelling of one name on this site, alongside Ashleigh and Ashlyn — all descend from the Old English for an ash-tree clearing, and the ash was the tree spears were made from.
15,970 in the 1980s
#348
Stefanie
15,869 in the 1980s
#349
Cassie Cassie is a girl's name of Greek origin, usually short for Cassandra, whose curse was to prophesy truly and never be believed.
15,851 in the 1980s
#352
Adrienne Adrienne means from Hadria, an Italian town that also named the Adriatic Sea — so the name and the sea are both called after a small settlement whose own name is uncertain.
15,806 in the 1980s
#355
Tammy Tammy is a girl's name meaning palm tree, a pet form of Tamara.
15,774 in the 1980s
#356
Ana Ana is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "favor" or "grace," and it is the form of Anna used across Spanish, Portuguese and Slavic Europe.
15,720 in the 1980s
#360
Beth Beth is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my oath," a short form of Elizabeth, and the seven in the Hebrew is the same idea as the oath.
15,423 in the 1980s
#363
Mallory Mallory means unlucky, and it is one of very few names built on an insult — the Norman malheuré described someone ill-fated, and it became a surname before anyone used it as a first name.
15,239 in the 1980s
#364
Cristina Cristina shares its root with Kirsten in this same group, but arrived by a southern route — Italian and Spanish rather than Scandinavian, from the Greek word for a follower of the anointed one.
15,174 in the 1980s
#365
Latasha
15,109 in the 1980s
#366
Virginia Virginia is a girl's name from a Roman family name, and the American state was named before the name became common in America — both honoring Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen.
15,078 in the 1980s
#369
Deborah Deborah is a girl's name from the Hebrew for bee, borne by the only woman to lead Israel as a judge.
14,849 in the 1980s
#370
Katelyn Katelyn is one of five respellings that divided the same sound in the 1990s, and Ireland ranks it 292nd — far above the United States at 1,078th, the reverse of how its sister spelling Kaitlyn behaves.
14,815 in the 1980s
#371
Audrey Audrey is a girl's name of Old English origin meaning "noble strength," from Æthelthryth.
14,797 in the 1980s
#373
Regina Regina is the Latin word for a queen, taken unchanged, and it is still the legal abbreviation in British courts — every criminal case against a defendant is formally Regina versus the accused.
14,665 in the 1980s
#376
Carla Carla is a girl's name meaning free man, the Italian and Spanish feminine of Carlo.
14,559 in the 1980s
#381
Cheryl Cheryl is a girl's name coined in twentieth-century America, probably by blending Cherie with Beryl.
14,364 in the 1980s
#382
Olivia Olivia is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "olive tree," used as the feminine form of Oliver.
14,136 in the 1980s
#384
Claudia Claudia means lame, and it comes from one of Rome's most powerful families.
13,994 in the 1980s
#385
Autumn Autumn is a girl's name taken from the English word for the season, which comes through French from the Latin autumnus.
13,891 in the 1980s
#387
Nina Nina is a girl's name with several unrelated origins.
13,713 in the 1980s
#388
Janet Janet is a girl's name, a Scottish diminutive of Jane meaning God is gracious.
13,671 in the 1980s
#391
Kristine Kristine means a follower of Christ, and it is the fourth spelling of this name to appear in this group — after Kristin, Kristen and Kristina, all four of them American-led rather than Scandinavian.
13,628 in the 1980s
#392
Kate Kate is a girl's name of Greek origin, a short form of Katherine whose meaning has never been established.
13,618 in the 1980s
#393
Jacquelyn Jacquelyn means supplanter, and the chain is long — it is an American respelling of Jacqueline, the French feminine of Jacques, which is James, which is Jacob.
13,448 in the 1980s
#394
Carmen Carmen has two unrelated sources — the Latin word for a song, and a Spanish Marian title from Mount Carmel in Israel.
13,436 in the 1980s
#397
Cara Cara is a girl's name with two independent sources: the Italian cara, meaning "dear" or "beloved," and the Irish cara, meaning "friend."
13,317 in the 1980s
#400
Aimee Aimee means beloved, and it is grammatically passive — the French past participle of aimer, to love, so the name says she who is loved rather than she who loves.
13,225 in the 1980s
#401
Mandy Mandy means she who must be loved, and the grammar matters — Amanda is a Latin gerundive, a form expressing obligation, so the name is closer to an instruction than a description.
13,192 in the 1980s
#402
Martha Martha is a girl's name of Aramaic origin meaning "lady" or "mistress of the house."
13,187 in the 1980s
#404
Donna Donna is a girl's name from the Italian word for a lady, a title used as a name.
13,117 in the 1980s

What Made a 1980s Name

Children in the United States were registered with it between 1980 and 1989. A name's position here is how many of them were.

Why Some Names Only Cover Part of the Decade

A name that appears in three of the ten years either arrived partway through or faded out — and either is more interesting than the total on its own. The statistics offices do not publish names given to very few children in a year, so a gap can also mean the count dropped below the threshold rather than to nothing.

Where to Go Next

Open any name to see its full curve — most of these have a hundred and forty years of it. Or compare the ends of the same measurement: the most popular names now and the rarest.